It's been one heck of a volatile run for markets that have made little — if no — sense since March 2009.

But with the dollar under heavy pressure for most of the year, it was a great year to be an energy trader... especially for our readers.

You see, no one thought the stock market could get as bad as it did in the early days of 2009. We were on the brink of a modern day Depression, with unemployment nearing double digits. It wasn't until the Fed lowered rates to zero — flooding the economy with dollars, weakening the dollar, super-charging commodity trader portfolios — that the Dow flew, helping readers like Paul J. become richer...

Here's Paul's email to me from just last week:

Just wanted to let you know how I have been doing with Pure Asset Trader. I joined Feb 2008 and since then... my investment of $11,000 is now worth $25,531. That's over 130% in what has been a very crazy period! Thank you for a great service.

That's what you'd expect from a portfolio that features a full 39 winners and just 2 losers, which you can take a look at here...

Now if you're wondering, the gains my readers have achieved have come from exploiting headlines like these:

• Oil prices doubled from where they began 2009... skyrocketing off $30 lows to $80

• Refinery woes: Valero shut down Delaware City, Sunoco shut down Eagle Point...

• European Union hits the US with duties on sales of biodiesel in Europe

• Exxon buys XTO for $41 billion, signaling that the future for shale gas could be explosive

• Natural gas is running to $6 as we speak

• China has been one of the biggest oil drivers of the year... and probably for the next 10 years. They were making deals to develop Iraq oil fields, signed contracts with Hugo Chavez, and got into a bidding war with ExxonMobil in Ghana.

• And the IEA put a date on peak oil production. "The chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA), believes that if no big new discoveries are made, "the output of conventional oil will peak in 2020 if oil demand grows on a business-as-usual basis." Coming from the band of geologists and former oil-industry hands who believe that the world is facing an imminent shortage of oil, this would be unremarkable. But coming from the IEA, the source of closely watched annual predictions about world energy markets, it is a new and striking claim."

Yep, it's been a heck of a ride for energy in 2009... but what can we expect in 2010?

To be honest, if we see real signs of economy recovery, 2010 could be an explosive year for energy... and even metals.

With metals, I'm advising my readers to diversify with rare earth, lithium, and vanadium.

Smart lithium traders know that lithium could soon replace billions of barrels of oil — or trillions of dollars in black gold revenue. They also know that demand is expected to continue rising, as the lithium boom takes its cue from the demand for it in the electric car market...

We're talking about exposure to a lithium battery market that's expected to hit $15 billion by 2010... and quite possibly $30 billion within a few short years. Even Warren Buffett is well aware of this, recently stunning the market when he announced a $250 million investment in a Chinese electric car company.

Others jumping on the lithium battery market bandwagon include:

• Mercedes - will launch their hybrid sedan in early 2010

• Tesla Motors - has already delivered its Roadster

• Nissan - will produce 150,000 electric cars

• Ford - has plans to manufacture an electric Focus by 2011

• General Motors - is betting on the success of the Chevy Volt in 2010

Here's what Wealth Daily Publisher Brian Hicks has to say...

If you're skeptical or concerned that fuel efficiency alone is not enough to entice Americans to buy electric cars, consider the Silicon Valley company Tesla Motors. While their roadster is the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells and travel more than 200 miles per charge, it is also capable of going from 0-60mph in less than four seconds.

Not only will the Roadster leave most sports cars in the dust; the car recently set a distance record in April 2009 when it completed the 241-mile Rallye Monte Carlo d'Energies Alternatives with 36 miles left on the charge.

At just over $100,000, the Roadster is probably too pricey for the average consumer... but Tesla has taken more than 1,000 reservations for the car and expects to begin production of an all-electric and more affordable sedan starting in late 2011. But just remember, the Tesla — as well as every other electric car — needs lithium. And demand for lithium is skyrocketing... and will continue to skyrocket.

Even vanadium could make you a fortune over the next few years.

Future growth for this element already looks very strong in the steel industry. In addition to the trillions in global stimulus spending, CIBC World Markets estimates that global infrastructure spending will hit $35 trillion over the next 20 years.

But growth in energy storage will be a big boon, too. Subaru recently revealed its G4E car, powered by a high-capacity vanadium-lithium battery. That battery alone will be capable of storing two or three times more energy than standard batteries.

Rare Earth and Greenland

We're even looking at a rare earth company that could soon own 25% of the world's rare earth supply. On January 1, 2010, Denmark will relinquish its sovereign hold over Greenland's mineral rights... turning the country's $273 billion rare earth resource into private property.

"Which is why the world's leading manufacturers of hybrid cars, wind turbines, batteries, and yes — even the guidance systems to our most sophisticated air and ground defense missiles systems — are watching the events in Greenland unfold with bated breath," says Brian Hicks.

"To companies like Toyota and Honda that have virtually staked their futures on the rapidly expanding hybrid/plug-in car market, and to our own defense industry, which cannot perform even the simplest task without highly-involved electronic assistance, this news could not have come at a better time."

So it'd make no sense to miss out on the one 80-cent stock that could run by the 1^st of the year.

As for oil and natural gas...

Continue buying oil (possibly USO, if you're interested), and natural gas stocks (as natural gas makes its way back to $6), as oil makes a run on a weakening dollar.

What's more, keep following our research in the Bakken oil and Sanish-Three Forks region, as we have in Pure Asset Trader.

My team and I intend to capitalize on every step of this domestic oil boom.

According to OPEC, global oil demand will grow by 700,000 barrels a day next year, thanks to China and India. Goldman Sachs maintained its $85 a barrel forecast for year end and $95 by next year. And the IEA is reporting that global oil consumption will average more than 86 million bpd in 2010.

It's no secret that oil rigs are successfully producing oil there, thanks to technological advancements. But now geologists, alongside state and industry officials, have a hunch there's another large crude oil-holding formation in the state. It's called Sanish-Three Forks, and it could be as big — if not more resourceful — than the Bakken.

Lynn Helms, Director of the State Department of Mineral Resources, thinks it's "good or better" than what's available from Bakken... and it's supposedly so massive that companies are pulling up as much as 2,100 barrels a day.

And from what we're hearing, there's significant promise for Three Forks, given its substantially higher number of hydrocarbons compared to the Bakken formation — another reason geologists think we're dealing with a separate oil formation all its own.

Look, it comes down to this: if the Three Forks formation is determined to be a unique oil-producing formation, it could easily add billions of barrels of oil to North Dakota's oil reserves... and add some nice green to your portfolio.

We also direct your attention to our other energy experts, Keith Kohl and Chris Nelder, for more in-depth analysis of what lies ahead for commodities.

Looking forward to an even more profitable 2010 with Pure Asset Trader,

Ian L. Cooper
Wealth Daily